holds at the assizes; and besides, the princess, my sister, who wishes already to enlarge the number of her subjects beyond country cousin Frank, expects you to pay court to her, notwithstanding Rosinante."

Whether this was a true account as to his sister, or a mere coinage of a light moment to divert himself, the very notion that I was expected to pay court to the dear and noble Bertha thrilled my very heart, and I followed him up the great inn stairs to their lodgingroom, with such emotions as the reader, if he is a decayed gentleman,” and has ever been in love with a person beyond himself, may imagine.

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But here, whatever might have been my uncertainties about Charles, every cloud, every doubt, every thought derogatory to the perfection of Bertha's delightful nature, was dissipated. On seeing me at first, gladness seemed to leap into her countenance. dazzle of her eye, which ever in her denoted an hilarity that springs from the most perfect innocence, absolutely illuminated, not merely herself, but all about her. She looked surprised, certainly, but also pleased, and (as I thought, but was not sure) blushed.

My chains were strong enough before, but this look, indescribable in its effect, would have rivetted them, had it been necessary, for ever. Ah! dearest Bertha, whatever power thy attractions afterwards continued to hold over me, it never exceeded, and scarcely equalled, the emotion caused by that single look. I was all tumult, and fear, and confusion, while she was gracious and self-possessed, and yet so modest in her expression, that when I approached to pay my com

pliments, I perfectly hated myself for the awkwardness of which I was conscious in offering them,

What is it that makes this difference in the sexes, which almost invariably, at this young age, elevates the elegant girl a hundred degrees above the booby boy? It affected me the more, being so transported as I was to see her again; nor could I then, or afterwards, at all unravel how one two years younger than myself should, merely, as I thought, because she was a female, be so evidently and so greatly above me in ease of manners.

Strange to say, although more than ever ready to adore the ground she stood upon, I was ready also to quarrel with her for it, and even deplored her superiority in good-breeding as much as her distance in rank and condition of life. I was, however, much too young a casuist, as well as too delighted at her presence, for my embarrassment to conceal my joy. A glimpse of heaven seemed to open upon me. I forgot in my rapture all the distance between us, and, what is more, that her brother and cousin were close by me, and, clasping my hands in a sort of ecstasy, I exclaimed, "My God! Is it possible that I am remembered ?"

Pretty bold this for the humble youth, so conscious of his inferiority of lot, and scarcely free from the charge of easy familiarity even in an equal, who had been so little in her company. But thus it is that love for a while levels all conditions, and "takes no count of time."

Neither Bertha nor her brother knew that my

broodings over her image, and the recollections of her character, had been incessant, and though twelve months had passed since I had seen her, I had seemed to have been present with her the whole of that interval. My speech, therefore, thus extorted from me by my surprise, though only natural to myself, to them appeared extraordinary, perhaps impertinent. It certainly was critical, for, from whatever motive, Miss Hastings changed from that heavenly openness of countenance, in which she was as inimitable as unimitated by all women, to a retreating reserve, which put smiles to flight, and seemed to crush my very heart.

I observed, too, that Foljambe looked most seriously displeased, and both he and his cousin measured me with their eyes, as if in anger, if not in contempt.

A revulsion instantly took place. I felt riven from head to foot: my pulse stopped, and I was giddy from sensations which for the life of me I could not understand. I had ten thousand fears, but of what exact kind, was beyond me. All I knew was, that I feared I had offended Bertha, but how I did not know.

The thought made me miserable, and was not diminished when in her cousin I thought I saw an angry rival. I was in agony lest Bertha might have thought me disrespectful. I felt I had been too free, and my miserable insignificance pressed me down like the weight of peine forte et dure.

And yet, when I thought of old times, and beheld the altered brow of Foljambe, and still more, the pert superciliousness of the cousin, my spirits rallied; my Norman blood again warmed, and, decayed as it was,

I could have quarrelled with them both, à l'outrance, in very relief to my feelings.

un

Little, indeed, do those know, who give themselves up to a passion like mine, and the object is above them, the daily and hourly mortifications or founded hopes they are doomed to feel from every incident that occurs. A look, a smile of doubtful character, a frown, a mistaken construction, an awkwardness, an unguarded word—all these are often to the jealous "confirmation strong" of whatever feeling is uppermost. They may be pregnant with happiness or unhappiness, and yet are possibly all unfounded, or mistaken; at best, they may be wofully exagge rated.

No! though I have said, and repeat, that love will elevate and purify the soul, particularly in the young, and though, under all its mortifications, mine for this enchanting girl, so much my superior, gave me sometimes a bliss beyond all price, still I would never advise an ingenuous, high-spirited youth to aspire to one greatly above him. The throes of doubt, "the pangs of despised love," and the resentment at its being so, cannot but lacerate a bosom made for better things, and all that Spenser said so feelingly of the miseries of disappointed ambition may every word of it be applied to a heart that places its love beyond its sphere

"To lose good days that might be better spent,
To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow,
To feed on hope, to pine in fear and sorrow,

To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares,
To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs,
To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
To spend, to give, to want, to be undone."

All this is that unhappy person's lot, who sets his affections so high above himself as to extinguish all hope of success.

There! I have given my young readers a lesson: whether, or how, I profited by it myself, the sequel will show.

An awkwardness of a minute or two was the consequence of my joyful but too familiar exclamation at the sight of Bertha, and I was glad to be in some measure relieved from it by the entrance of Mr. Hastings. Yet I know not that I gained much by the reception given me by that stately gentleman. He offered me his white and delicate hand to touch, but certainly not to squeeze; yet he observed I was much improved. Strange to say, I did not like this. It made me too much of a boy, where I wanted to appear an accomplished man. He then said he supposed he should see my father on the grand jury, where he believed he was sometimes summoned.

I thought this contemptuous, and was angry, and my anger rather braced me. Yet all this was but jealous fancy; for at that very time, as I afterwards learned, Mr. Hastings wished to thank me for the good counsel which Foljambe could not conceal I had given him in his quarrel with the Dean, which drove him from Oxford.

Exclusive of this, though Mr. Hastings had all the